Too Big Clothes
by Gingham
Summary: ""When did you realise you were in love with Phryne?" Jack's eyebrows jumped up towards his hairline. This was a surprise." Jack, Jane, and unmitigated Monday fluff.


Just a very quick bit of fluff that I couldn't keep inside my head.

Assume P&J are in an established relationship but that Jane is still young (15ish) and living at home. In other words, completely ignore canon!

Anyway I hope you enjoy!

Reviews always appreciated J

()

"Jack?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm sorry, I'm disturbing you."

"Mm? No, Jane, of course you're not." Jack hauled his conscious mind, only semi-protesting, from the landscape of 18th century Derbyshire and landed it with ceremony in the exquisite parlour of Wardlow. It's decadent turquoise walls and luxurious furnishings loudly proclaimed the rooms' allegiance to the lady of the house, but after several months of near co-habitation, Jack almost felt that it was his too; one thing, amongst all those other things that they now shared.

And the most prized of all those things, he thought with a smile, was conversation with Jane.

He marked his page in the book and laid it, closed, in his lap. "What can I do for you?"

Jane relinquished her nervous hold on the doorframe and made her way to sit beside him on the chaise.

"Can I ask you a question?"

She sounded shy, almost worried.

"Of course you can."

There was a pause. Jack waited, his long legs folded, his book still in his lap as he watched mulled over words bubble their way to the surface.

"When did you realise you were in love with Phryne?"

Jack's eyebrows jumped up towards his hairline. This was a surprise.

"I mean, did you always know?" Jane continued breathlessly. "Or was there a moment when you realised…"

"Well," huffed out Jack, slightly uncomfortable. Whilst Jane had been pleased about the development of his relationship with Miss Fisher and sweetly excited about his presence in the house, she had never taken this active an interest before. Not with him, anyway. He wondered briefly how much Phryne had told her ward about her attachment to him, and flushed at the thought of some of the details from those early days being revealed. He could just imagine her regaling Jane with some of the finer details without a care in the world. ( _"He was just about to kiss me, Jane, and then what happened but Aunt Prudence came charging into the hallway! Never let me it be said your Aunt doesn't have impeccable timing when she wants!")_

He swallowed, pushing his imagination to one side and tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. "Well…" he said again. "I certainly knew she was trouble right from the start."

Jane's eyes caught his and gave a well-practised roll. "Serious question," she chastised.

Jack nodded. "Serious question," he repeated thoughtfully. "Is there a reason for this serious question?"

She shifted slightly in her seat, her eyes darting away from his. "There might be."

Jack ignored the sharp pang in his heart that told him it was too early for Jane to be thinking about love or any of the activities associated with it. "Alright," he said softly. He put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side. "I suppose a serious question deserves a serious answer."

Jane smiled up at him, and he pursed his lips in thought.

"I don't know if there was just one moment," he answered honestly. "There were… lots of different feelings all at once. Grudging admiration, respect, awe… all that was there from almost the beginning, I suppose. Attraction… that was there too." He smiled at Jane's giggle.

"Right from the start?" Jane teased.

He tilted his head. "Well, on my side, certainly. I can't speak for Phryne!" They shared another smile.

"I always knew she was brilliant," he continued, losing himself in the memory of those early cases. "But also infuriating, irritating…"

Jane huffed slightly impatiently. "But when did you know you were in love?"

He considered. "I'm not sure I did, really."

Jane looked confused, and he hastened to explain. "Falling in love with someone… it's not like suddenly making a decision. You don't go to sleep one day normal and then wake up in love the next. It's…" he struggled to find the right words. "It's… sneakier than that. It happens behind your back. You go along perfectly normally and then one day something happens, like… you think she's died in a road accident - and before you know it, there you are."

"You fell in love with Phryne because you thought she died in a road accident?" Jane's look of confusion had only deepened. Jack felt his ears turn red. He was no good at this sort of thing. Where was Phryne when he needed her?

"No. But it wasn't until that happened that I realised that somewhere along the line, in the last few months…"

"You had fallen in love?"

"Yes."

"Without noticing?"

"Without noticing how strong it was, yes." _Without realising how much it could break him_ , was probably the truer response, though he didn't want to burden Jane with the knowledge of how badly love could hurt _this_ early in life.

Besides, he'd come back. He'd taken the risk. And he'd never been so glad for anything.

"Hmmm." Jane seemed lost in thought, her brow furrowed. It was as if his answer didn't quite match some piece of a previous knowledge she had tucked away in what Jack had already realised was going to be a formidable mind.

He squeezed her tighter, affectionately. "Do you mind if I ask what these questions are in aid of?"

Jane seemed to consider for a moment, then said. "There's a boy who says he loves me."

"What boy?" Jack asked, and it was all he could do to take the sharp edge out of the words before they left his lips.

"A boy from school," Jane said absently, still lost in thought.

Jack frowned. "You go to a girl's school." He ought to know, he had picked Jane up several times, doing his best to ignore the almost deafening sound of chatter and giggles that almost always accompanied young girls _en masse._

"There's a boy's school next to us."

Jack frowned again, making a mental note to investigate this next time he picked her up.

"I see."

Jane had the grace to look at him shamefacedly as she admitted the next: "A group of us sneak out and meet them at lunch."

He supressed a smirk. "Are you sure you're not biologically related to Phryne?"

She let out a giggle, pleased he wasn't angry with her.

"And one of them says he loves you?" he prompted.

Jane nodded, and he saw no vanity in her expression. "He just seems to have decided," she explained incredulously. "And he's only met me twice. He can't be sensible?"

Jack smiled. He couldn't think of one teenage boy at his school who had been sensible, including himself.

"From what I remember," he began, "and granted this is a long time ago, boys your age are not quite… not quite as _comfortable_ with emotions and feelings as the girls are."

"What do you mean?"

"Concepts like love and hate. They try them on like too big clothes. They don't quite fit, but they think they look rather good on."

Jane nodded, understanding.

"Even though most of the time they just look faintly ridiculous," Jack finished, remembering his own youth with no small amount of embarrassment.

"So he doesn't mean it?" Relief and outrage were fighting for supremacy on Jane's face.

"Well, I don't know him, of course. But my guess is he probably thinks he means it. And that's about all the sense you can hope for from a 15 year old boy."

He smiled at Jane's disgruntled expression. "But don't worry," he said, planting a kiss on top of her hair. "They'll catch up with you girls at some point."

"When?" Jane asked, plaintively.

"Oh, in a few years. When they're a bit older." Satisfied that Jane's love life did not pose an immediate problem, Jack gave her hair a quick ruffle and opened his book again. But he was soon drawn by Jane's sparkling eyes scrutinising him carefully.

"Yes?" he queried.

"How old were you when you finally sorted things out with Phryne?" Jane asked, almost innocently.

His mouth opened and he gaped slightly as he realised her implication. Narrowing his eyes, he went to issue forth a witty rejoinder when he was interrupted by a voice from the doorway.

"He was worth the wait."

They both looked up to see the lady of the house in the doorway, her figure resplendent in black chiffon and a feather trimmed scarf. Her artfully drawn lips were curved into a smirk as she took in the image of her two favourite people sitting together on the chaise.

"How long have you been there?" Jack asked.

"Long enough," she smiled.

"How was the party?"

"The champagne was better than the company," she answered. Jack smiled, noting in her expression her happiness to be home.

She extended her hand. "Come on Jane, it's late. You should be in bed."

Jane jumped up and went to the door. "Goodnight, Jack."

"G'night, Jane."

Phryne shot another smile at Jack before following her ward up the stairs.

()

When she returned, Jack was engrossed in his book again, and she had to sidle in next to him before he noticed she was back.

"Hello," he said softly.

"Hello." She pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I missed you tonight."

"Not as much as I missed you. Wait till you hear what Jane asked me."

"She told me all about it," Phryne murmured. "What are you reading?"

Her lips were trailing dangerously close to his ear, and he wordlessly held up the book.

" _Pride and Prejudice_ ," she read, and she retreated from him enough so that he could see her raised eyebrows. "One of my recommendations."

"Even though you never take any of mine," Jack murmured back, leaning forward again to capture her lips.

She placed a palm on his cheek, stroking him luxuriously. "You know I only like Shakespeare if you're reading it."

He brushed her lips again. "Happy to oblige any time, Miss Fisher."

She grinned, and opened up her neckline for him to access. He took the hint, trailing kisses down her throat.

"Jack…" there was a hint of warning in her soft tones that he would have noticed if he hadn't been so preoccupied in tracing her pulse with his tongue.

"Mmm?"

"Did you happen to tell my ward she should be dating older boys?"

He reeled back, as if her neck had suddenly burned him. She looked at him intently, trying to bury the laughter that was threatening to betray her deep in her chest.

"N…no! No!" Jack stammered, reminding her irresistibly of Hugh Collins. "I didn't! I didn't say that at all!"

"What on earth did you say?"

"I just said…" Jack struggled to remember now. "That some boys her age were maybe a little immature when it came to dealing with emotion."

"Well, it sounds to me as if you only left her with one option then!"

"I…. I didn't!" Jack sputtered. "I didn't even mention…" he broke off as he saw Phryne bite her lip, and saw the beginnings of laughter flood her eyes.

"Oh very funny," he pouted.

She dissolved into giggles, resting her forehead against his chest as she shook with merriment.

He shook his head above her, resolving not to give in to giggles too. "That was deeply unkind, Phryne."

She rose up to face him, her face red from laughing. "I'm sorry, Jack. I couldn't resist."

He shook his head at her. "That was the first conversation like that I've had to have without you, and I thought I did it rather well!"

"You did it splendidly, Jack!" Phryne exclaimed, climbing into his lap.

He huffed, but put his arms around her anyway. "It was splendid, before you came along and ruined it."

"Oh, Jack. I'm only playing." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Jane told me everything. I think you handled it perfectly."

He acknowledged her compliment with a tilt of his head. "Did she tell you she sneaks out of school at lunchtime to meet with the boys from the school next door?"

"She's very resourceful, our Jane."

"She gets that from you."

"Thank you."

"Did you just say "our Jane"?"

"Oh yes." Phryne smiled against his cheek. "I think she's very much _our_ Jane, now."

He bit his lip. He liked the sound of that. "She's going to break hearts, you know."

Phryne nodded and picked up the book which had fallen, discarded between the cushions. "Maybe we should give her this. Teach her that the best sort of love is a slow burner."

"No-one knows that better than us."

She rewarded him with another lazy smile and pulled him in for a deep kiss.

"And there I heard you found me irritating and infuriating when we first met," she murmured when they broke apart.

"I tried to," he replied. "But they weren't real feelings. I was just trying them on for size."

She grinned. " _Like too big clothes_ ," she repeated back to him. His lips flickered upward in answer.

Their lips brushed together once more. "And what about this now?" she breathed. "Us?

He pulled her closer towards him and put his lips to her ear.

"Perfect fit."


End file.
